How'm I doin'?

A couple of months ago, after my ProcureStaff job ended, I wrote an entry in my main blog about what I intended to spend my time on. Here were my priorities:

1. Working out and losing weight
2. Making art
3. Redesigning the site layout
4. Lots of walking around the city
5. Learning to program Cocoa (the principal MacOS programming environment)

Here’s the progress, such as it is:

1. Nine pounds lost; that’s 11 less than I’d been hoping for
2. Some art made: two small acrylic paintings and a bunch of sketches
3. Site redesign mostly done, then abandoned because I don’t actually like the new design much
4. Much walking in old haunts, only a little exploration of new areas
5. Cocoa programming abandoned after I realized it would take a lot more work than I’d first thought, and it’s not really what I want to be doing

Back to the Gym!

• 20 minutes on the treadmill at 4 mph with a 4% incline
• 80 pounds on the bench press machine (for get what it’s called exactly), two reps of ten lifts each
• 110 pounds on the pulldown press, two reps of 12 lifts each
• 40 pounds on the military press, two reps of 10 lifts each
• 230 pounds on the leg press, two reps of 10 lifts each
• Various free weights to work on my forearms and wrists
• Stretching

While stretching, I usually do two reps of ten regular abdomenal crunches, followed by whatever you call those crunches where you pull across the body, trying to hit your left knee with your right elbow and vice versa. Today I felt the twinges of an approaching cramp only three crunches into the second rep, so I let off. Must be out of condition. Should be back to normal by the end of the week if I keep it up.

Invader Zim

A latecomer, as always, to the hot new cartoon trends, I’ve just discovered the joys of Invader Zim. Kevin taped a wad of it for me, six hours of Zimmy goodness, and I’ve watched the pilot and three episodes so far. Very funny, weird, and dark. “Dark Harvest”, the one with the organs, in particular seems like the sort of thing I’d never expect to see on a kids’ network, which may explain why Nickelodeon is cancelling it. The Cartoon Network might have been a better fit.

It also looks like a very expensive cartoon to produce. Lots of sweeping movement, requiring heavy background rendering, and the backgrounds are pretty detailed. Lots of distinctive background characters. The movement in general is pretty smooth. And lots of lovingly detailed action sequences, with stuff unfolding and lighting up. Fun to watch, but it can’t be cheap.